Whodunit Column by Bruce Tierney

If Ed McBain does not hold the record for sheer numbers of books in a mystery series, I can't imagine who does. Fiddlers, is (by my count) the 55th installment in the 87th Precinct series. For almost 50 years, McBain, who died in July, entertained his readers with perhaps the finest police procedural novels of modern times. By turns ribald, gritty and cynical, this last novel in the famous...

Whodunit Column by Bruce Tierney

January's Tip of the Ice Pick Award goes to veteran crime novelist and reigning King of the Police Procedurals Ed McBain for his hilarious and diabolical The Frumious Bandersnatch. Hip-hop diva Tamar Valparaiso is poised on the edge of superstardom. Her controversial new video, a rape-fantasy piece entitled "Frumious Bandersnatch" is set for release, and she plans to debut a live version of it...

Whodunit Column by Bruce Tierney

Terminally hip tabloid journalist Jimmy Gage returns for an encore performance in Robert Ferrigno's fast-paced Scavenger Hunt. Introduced in the 2001 novel Flinch, Gage was faced with the dreadful prospect that his successful surgeon brother might well be a serial killer. In his latest outing, Gage investigates the death of Garrett Walsh, a renegade Hollywood director, a one-time boy...

Whodunit Column by Bruce Tierney

<B>McBain's 87th Precinct is back</B> For nigh on half a century, Ed McBain has been cranking out tales of the 87th Precinct. Located in an indeterminate eastern seaboard metropolis (which bears more than a passing resemblance to New York City), the 87th runs the full gamut of crime: prostitution, theft, terrorism and of course, murder. The cast of characters has changed some...